Madden NFL 21 and UFC 4 Top the US Charts in August, Switch Sales Doubled Year-Over-Year - Sales

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The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the US in August 2020, outselling the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in terms of units sold and total dollars, according to figures from NPD. 

"Nintendo Switch set a new US August hardware dollar sales record, besting the August 2008 dollar sales of the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo Switch unit volume more than doubled when compared to a year ago. Switch was the best-selling hardware platform of the month," said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella.

Overall spending on hardware increased 37 percent year-on-year to $229 million, while spending on video game content jumped 37 percent to $2.94 billion. Video game content is a new metric for NPD, which includes full game software sales, DLC, microtransactions, subscriptions, and more.

Overall spending on video games increased 37 percent to $3.33 billion. Spending on video game accessories increased 42 percent year-over-year to $166 million.

"Digital content on console platforms, mobile content, and subscription spending were among the largest growth segments," Piscatella said. "Year-to-date spending reached $29.4 billion, 23% higher than the same period in 2019. Content, hardware, and accessory spending each increased by more than 20% when compared to the same period a year ago."

"Video game content spending reached $2.9 billion in August 2020, increasing 37% when compared to a year ago," Piscatella added. "Year-to-date content spending now exceeds $25.9 billion, a 22% increase compared to the same period last year."

Year-to-date spending on video games has increased 23 percent when compared to the same period in 2019, to $29.4 billion.

"Year-to-date spending reached $29.4 billion, 23 percent higher than the same period in 2019," said Piscatella. "Content, hardware and accessory spending each increased by more than 20 percent when compared to the same period a year ago."

Madden NFL 21 debuted in first place on the NPD charts for August 2020 as sales in terms of dollars earned saw double-digit growth compared to the 2019 release. It is already the sixth best-selling of 2020.

"Madden NFL 21 was the best-selling title of August, with double-digit percentage dollar sales growth when compared to the release month of Madden NFL 20," Piscatella said. "Madden NFL 21 debuts as the No. 6 best-selling game year to date. This is the 21st consecutive year that a Madden NFL franchise release has the best-selling game in its release month. Madden NFL is the best-selling sports (and third best-selling overall) video game franchise in U.S. history."

UFC 4 debuted in second place and set a new franchise record. It is the third best-selling game on the PS4 and Xbox One for the month of August.

"UFC 4 was the second best-selling game of the month, setting a new franchise launch month sales record for an Electronic Arts-published UFC title," Piscatella said. "UFC 4 ranked as the third best-selling game of August on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One."

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild comes in at sixth place and has ranked in the top 10 for the Switch charts every month since it launched in March 2017.

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ranked as the sixth best-selling title on Nintendo Switch in August," Piscatella said. "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has ranked among the top 10 best sellers on Switch every month since its March 2017 launch — a period of 42 consecutive months, never placing lower than seventh. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the 10th best-selling game released on Nintendo platforms in US tracked history."

Final Fantasy VII Remake due to a drop in price re-entered the top 20 in 19th place. 

"Final Fantasy VII Remake returned to the top 20 best-selling titles chart (#19) in August after finishing 41st in July. The title was featured at a discounted price digitally on the PlayStation Store," Piscatella said.

Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for August 2020:

* Digital sales not included

Here are the lists of top 10 selling games by platform for the month:

Top 10 best-selling Xbox One games for August 2020

Top 10 best-selling PlayStation 4 games for August 2020

Top 10 best-selling Nintendo Switch games for August 2020

Top 10 best-selling games of 2020 through August 2020

Thanks, VentureBeat.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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Blood_Tears (on 14 September 2020)

The Last of Us 2 top 5 on the PS4 list and number 12 on the monthly list and still 3rd overall YTD. So much for naysayers “that tried to tell everyone that it would fall off completely with bad word of mouth” and blah blah blah.

• +4

AFattyGamer Blood_Tears (on 14 September 2020)

Glad The Last Of Us 2 is still selling well for Sony :) Hopefully Naughty Dog's next iteration does blockbuster numbers for Sony PS5!

• +1

PAOerfulone Blood_Tears (on 14 September 2020)

I hope we get updated numbers from Sony as to how many units it has sold.
It was 4 million at launch weekend, I wonder where it is now.

• +2

AFattyGamer (on 14 September 2020)

Hopefully that whole #NFLdropEA movement takes off more. EA has to be the most laziest publisher I've seen. And that says a lot.

• +1

tripenfall (on 15 September 2020)

Those Switch numbers are insane! I wonder how the 2021 Switch figures will look vs next gen consoles?

• 0